Judges 9:6:-15 / Matthew 20:1-16
The word "responsibility" is an interesting word. It means the "condition of being responsible" or to put it in a simple way, the ability to be responsible.
In life, we have our responsibilities. Parents are responsible for their children. The boss is responsible for his workers.
But of course those kind of responsibilities come with the role.
But what if we are called to take on higher responsibilities in which we have a choice to accept or reject?
To take on those responsibilities would mean that we have to make sacrifices and forego some of our carefree attitudes and lifestyles.
In the 1st reading, the story that Jotham told the people has this word "forego" being repeated over and over again.
The point was that if those who are able to take on leadership roles and yet reject the call because they would have to forego their personal ambitions and dreams, then it would be left to those with ulterior motives to be leaders.
And that would spell disaster for all, and that's just because those who can take on responsibilities shirk from it.
It would be an even greater disaster if we shirk from our own duties and responsibilities.
As we think about it, our basic duty and responsibility to God is to give thanks and praise Him for giving us the ability to be faithful to Him.
In thanking and praising God, let us also be generous in our self-giving and service to others so that God will be glorified in all that we do.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
20th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 16-08-11
Judges 6:11-24 / Matthew 19:23-30
Page after page of the Bible speaks about a peculiar way of God.
It's about how God would choose the weak and lowly to accomplish a difficult and even seemingly impossible task.
We see this in Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, just to name a few.
It's like how Mary's "Magnificat" puts it: He casts the mighty from their thrones and He raises the lowly.
We see this again in the 1st reading. Gideon was the least important of the weakest clan of the smallest tribe of Israel.
Yet God chose him to be the one to deliver Israel from the oppression of their enemies. It was also to show that the power is from God and not from man.
Indeed as Jesus would reiterate in the gospel - what is impossible for man is not impossible for God.
So when it comes to carrying out God's will or God's plan in our lives, the only obstacle is the limitation posed in our minds and in the minds of others.
So if others are saying "Cannot!", then we should be saying "Why not?!!"
But it's only when we know we are weak, then God will make us strong.
By ourselves, anything is impossible. But with God everything is possible.
Page after page of the Bible speaks about a peculiar way of God.
It's about how God would choose the weak and lowly to accomplish a difficult and even seemingly impossible task.
We see this in Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, just to name a few.
It's like how Mary's "Magnificat" puts it: He casts the mighty from their thrones and He raises the lowly.
We see this again in the 1st reading. Gideon was the least important of the weakest clan of the smallest tribe of Israel.
Yet God chose him to be the one to deliver Israel from the oppression of their enemies. It was also to show that the power is from God and not from man.
Indeed as Jesus would reiterate in the gospel - what is impossible for man is not impossible for God.
So when it comes to carrying out God's will or God's plan in our lives, the only obstacle is the limitation posed in our minds and in the minds of others.
So if others are saying "Cannot!", then we should be saying "Why not?!!"
But it's only when we know we are weak, then God will make us strong.
By ourselves, anything is impossible. But with God everything is possible.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Assumption, Monday, 15.08.2011
Rev 11:19a-12:1-6a, 10ab/ 1 Cor 15:20-26/ Luke 1:39-56
For someone whom we love deeply and we want to show our respect and honour, is there anything that we can do for that person?
Or is there anything that we can ever do to make that person remembered for as long as possible?
There are a few examples in history of people who try to keep the memory of a person.
One such example is the magnificent Taj Mahal. It was built in 1648 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died at child-birth.
It certainly was with great love and a great desire to remember and honour a person that such things are done.
Today we celebrate the occasion when God honoured His most beloved creature, Mary.
Mary was conceived without sin so that she in turn will conceive Jesus who is the sinless Son of God.
God assumed her into heaven, body and soul, so that the corruption of death will not touch her sinless body.
But the Assumption is not just about raising Mary’s sinless body into heaven.
Mary’s whole person was sinless; her whole being was sinless.
Yes, she was conceived without sin, yet she had the freedom of choice to remain sinless or not.
At the Annunciation, she clearly indicated that she was just a lowly handmaid of the Lord and that the will of the Lord was to be done in her.
In fact, we cannot talk about Jesus without saying something about Mary.
Yet whenever we talk about Mary, we are also saying something, and maybe everything about Jesus.
In the gospel, we heard Mary praising God for His mercy on those who fear Him, and that He exalts the lowly, the hungry He fills with good things, He comes to the help of His servants, mindful of His mercy.
These are the core teachings of Jesus and this is also what Mary lived out in her life.
Mary did the will of God in her life, and she glorified the Lord, and exalted the Lord God her Saviour.
And at the end of her earthly life, God glorified and exalted her with the Assumption.
Yet even from her place in heaven, Mary will not rest from the work of salvation until we, her children, are with her to glorify and praise the Lord.
In the gospel, we heard Elizabeth proclaiming Mary as the Mother of God.
On the cross, Jesus gave us Mary to be our mother.
And from the Church approved apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima, we know that Mary is still doing the will of God.
This time round, it is not to bring Jesus into the world but to bring us to heaven through the call to prayer, penance and repentance.
May we like Mary do the will of God in our lives.
May we be humble and trust in God’s ways of providence.
May we know that we need God’s help to face the troubles of this life.
May we also pray to Mary, so that in the world to come, we too will join her to praise and glorify the Lord God our Saviour.
For someone whom we love deeply and we want to show our respect and honour, is there anything that we can do for that person?
Or is there anything that we can ever do to make that person remembered for as long as possible?
There are a few examples in history of people who try to keep the memory of a person.
One such example is the magnificent Taj Mahal. It was built in 1648 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died at child-birth.
It certainly was with great love and a great desire to remember and honour a person that such things are done.
Today we celebrate the occasion when God honoured His most beloved creature, Mary.
Mary was conceived without sin so that she in turn will conceive Jesus who is the sinless Son of God.
God assumed her into heaven, body and soul, so that the corruption of death will not touch her sinless body.
But the Assumption is not just about raising Mary’s sinless body into heaven.
Mary’s whole person was sinless; her whole being was sinless.
Yes, she was conceived without sin, yet she had the freedom of choice to remain sinless or not.
At the Annunciation, she clearly indicated that she was just a lowly handmaid of the Lord and that the will of the Lord was to be done in her.
In fact, we cannot talk about Jesus without saying something about Mary.
Yet whenever we talk about Mary, we are also saying something, and maybe everything about Jesus.
In the gospel, we heard Mary praising God for His mercy on those who fear Him, and that He exalts the lowly, the hungry He fills with good things, He comes to the help of His servants, mindful of His mercy.
These are the core teachings of Jesus and this is also what Mary lived out in her life.
Mary did the will of God in her life, and she glorified the Lord, and exalted the Lord God her Saviour.
And at the end of her earthly life, God glorified and exalted her with the Assumption.
Yet even from her place in heaven, Mary will not rest from the work of salvation until we, her children, are with her to glorify and praise the Lord.
In the gospel, we heard Elizabeth proclaiming Mary as the Mother of God.
On the cross, Jesus gave us Mary to be our mother.
And from the Church approved apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima, we know that Mary is still doing the will of God.
This time round, it is not to bring Jesus into the world but to bring us to heaven through the call to prayer, penance and repentance.
May we like Mary do the will of God in our lives.
May we be humble and trust in God’s ways of providence.
May we know that we need God’s help to face the troubles of this life.
May we also pray to Mary, so that in the world to come, we too will join her to praise and glorify the Lord God our Saviour.
Friday, August 12, 2011
19th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday, 13-08-11
Joshua 24:14-29 / Matthew 19:13-15
It has been said that the church is not just a building made of stone walls.
The church is made of living stones, because we are the people of God, we are the Church.
The building is only a sign and a place for worship. Nonetheless the building is significant.
Because when the building is destroyed, the people lose their focus. Just like how the enemies destroy the Temple in Jerusalem when they overran the Israelites.
Also these stone walls bear silent witness to the life and the worship of the church community.
Even in the 1st reading, we heard how Joshua took a great stone and set it in the sanctuary of the Lord and said that this stone will be the witness to the covenant between the Lord and His people.
As we reflect deeper about this, we are also reminded that our home is not just a house with stone walls.
We, the family members, make it a home as well as a dwelling place for God, a mini sanctuary of the Lord.
The home is a house of blessings and a house of prayer. Hence we must teach our children to pray and also to bless them whenever they go off or when they come back.
Like what Jesus did in the gospel, we can just lay our hands on their heads or just make the sign of the cross on their foreheads.
Let us make our house a home of love and blessings. Otherwise it is just a house of stones.
It has been said that the church is not just a building made of stone walls.
The church is made of living stones, because we are the people of God, we are the Church.
The building is only a sign and a place for worship. Nonetheless the building is significant.
Because when the building is destroyed, the people lose their focus. Just like how the enemies destroy the Temple in Jerusalem when they overran the Israelites.
Also these stone walls bear silent witness to the life and the worship of the church community.
Even in the 1st reading, we heard how Joshua took a great stone and set it in the sanctuary of the Lord and said that this stone will be the witness to the covenant between the Lord and His people.
As we reflect deeper about this, we are also reminded that our home is not just a house with stone walls.
We, the family members, make it a home as well as a dwelling place for God, a mini sanctuary of the Lord.
The home is a house of blessings and a house of prayer. Hence we must teach our children to pray and also to bless them whenever they go off or when they come back.
Like what Jesus did in the gospel, we can just lay our hands on their heads or just make the sign of the cross on their foreheads.
Let us make our house a home of love and blessings. Otherwise it is just a house of stones.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
19th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, 12-08-11
Joshua 24:1-13 / Matthew 19:3-12
History is important in that it recalls past events that involved the lives of people.
Although history is about the past, it is nonetheless a factual reality and not some fiction or imagination.
History also reminds us of our origins, the way we were and how much we have progressed and developed.
In the 1st reading, the Israelites had just crossed into the Promised Land but God wanted them to look back at their past and their journey to the present.
The words of God are very profound: This is not the work of your sword or your bow. I gave you a land where you never toiled, you lived in towns you never built, you eat now from vineyards and olive groves you never planted.
Indeed, as the Israelites looked at their past, they can only give thanks for their present.
And so must we. And so must married couples too.
Married couples need to reflect on how God brought them together and how they fell in love and decided to commit themselves to a life-long commitment of love.
As Jesus taught us in the gospel, married couples are no longer two but one body, and what God has united, man must not divide.
Similarly with us. God has called us to be His Chosen people.
May we never cause division and separate ourselves from God.
History is important in that it recalls past events that involved the lives of people.
Although history is about the past, it is nonetheless a factual reality and not some fiction or imagination.
History also reminds us of our origins, the way we were and how much we have progressed and developed.
In the 1st reading, the Israelites had just crossed into the Promised Land but God wanted them to look back at their past and their journey to the present.
The words of God are very profound: This is not the work of your sword or your bow. I gave you a land where you never toiled, you lived in towns you never built, you eat now from vineyards and olive groves you never planted.
Indeed, as the Israelites looked at their past, they can only give thanks for their present.
And so must we. And so must married couples too.
Married couples need to reflect on how God brought them together and how they fell in love and decided to commit themselves to a life-long commitment of love.
As Jesus taught us in the gospel, married couples are no longer two but one body, and what God has united, man must not divide.
Similarly with us. God has called us to be His Chosen people.
May we never cause division and separate ourselves from God.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
19th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, 11-08-11
Joshua 3:7-10, 11, 13-17 / Matthew 18:21-19:1
There are two important moments in the biblical history of Israel.
One is the liberation from slavery in Egypt and the other is the entry into the Promised Land after 40 years of journeying in the desert.
These two important moments are marked with a very significant and miraculous phenomenon - a crossing over.
Liberated from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites faced the Red Sea but God parted it for them to cross over.
Before they could enter the Promised Land, the Israelites faced the river Jordan and again God parted it for them to cross over.
Indeed the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the river Jordan is significant in that it showed that nothing was impossible for God in order to fulfill His plan for His people.
The crossing over also symbolizes a new life from the old, a freedom and liberation from slavery and bondage.
Jesus talked about forgiveness in the gospel. Forgiveness is like a crossing over - from slavery and bondage to freedom and liberation.
Yet forgiveness is not forced upon us. We have a choice to forgive and to be forgiven.
But it is not just another choice. It is an important choice because it will determine whether we want to remain in the slavery and bondage of sin or to cross over to liberation and freedom in God's love.
There are two important moments in the biblical history of Israel.
One is the liberation from slavery in Egypt and the other is the entry into the Promised Land after 40 years of journeying in the desert.
These two important moments are marked with a very significant and miraculous phenomenon - a crossing over.
Liberated from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites faced the Red Sea but God parted it for them to cross over.
Before they could enter the Promised Land, the Israelites faced the river Jordan and again God parted it for them to cross over.
Indeed the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the river Jordan is significant in that it showed that nothing was impossible for God in order to fulfill His plan for His people.
The crossing over also symbolizes a new life from the old, a freedom and liberation from slavery and bondage.
Jesus talked about forgiveness in the gospel. Forgiveness is like a crossing over - from slavery and bondage to freedom and liberation.
Yet forgiveness is not forced upon us. We have a choice to forgive and to be forgiven.
But it is not just another choice. It is an important choice because it will determine whether we want to remain in the slavery and bondage of sin or to cross over to liberation and freedom in God's love.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, Wednesday, 10-08-11
2 Cor 9:6-10 / John 12:24-26 (2021 / 2023)
St. Lawrence was a deacon of the Church of Rome when Pope Sixtus was martyred along with four other deacons during the year 258.
St. Lawrence, who was temporarily in charge of the administration, was told by the authorities that if he wanted to be spared, he was to surrender all the treasures of the Church in three days time.
So during the next three days, St. Lawrence went around gathering the poor and the needy who were supported by the Church.
Then he brought them before the authorities and he told them: These are the treasures of the Church.
Needless to say, he was taken away to be tortured to death. The account of the execution scene was morbid.
St. Lawrence was stripped and tied to a wire-mesh to be roasted over the fire.
One account has it that St. Laurence said to his torturers: You can turn me over, I am well done on this side.
But martyrdom is certainly no laughing matter, but yet even as the blood of the martyrs was poured out, the Church grew especially in those terrible times.
Because it was a blood that was willingly poured out, willingly given for the glory of God.
As the 1st reading puts it, St. Lawrence and the other martyrs sowed with their blood and their lives and they reaped the harvest of eternal life.
And as the gospel puts it, St. Lawrence gave up his life in witness to Jesus and by his death the Church reaped a rich harvest of faith.
The martyrdom of St. Lawrence reminds us that our lives are to be poured out for others so that they can grow in faith and love and be the treasures of the Church.
Hence, every sacrifice we make is like a dying to ourselves, and yet the harvest that will be reaped will make it all worth it.
St. Lawrence was a deacon of the Church of Rome when Pope Sixtus was martyred along with four other deacons during the year 258.
St. Lawrence, who was temporarily in charge of the administration, was told by the authorities that if he wanted to be spared, he was to surrender all the treasures of the Church in three days time.
So during the next three days, St. Lawrence went around gathering the poor and the needy who were supported by the Church.
Then he brought them before the authorities and he told them: These are the treasures of the Church.
Needless to say, he was taken away to be tortured to death. The account of the execution scene was morbid.
St. Lawrence was stripped and tied to a wire-mesh to be roasted over the fire.
One account has it that St. Laurence said to his torturers: You can turn me over, I am well done on this side.
But martyrdom is certainly no laughing matter, but yet even as the blood of the martyrs was poured out, the Church grew especially in those terrible times.
Because it was a blood that was willingly poured out, willingly given for the glory of God.
As the 1st reading puts it, St. Lawrence and the other martyrs sowed with their blood and their lives and they reaped the harvest of eternal life.
And as the gospel puts it, St. Lawrence gave up his life in witness to Jesus and by his death the Church reaped a rich harvest of faith.
The martyrdom of St. Lawrence reminds us that our lives are to be poured out for others so that they can grow in faith and love and be the treasures of the Church.
Hence, every sacrifice we make is like a dying to ourselves, and yet the harvest that will be reaped will make it all worth it.
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